The Heist
by Devyn88
Summary: In the weeks after the downfall of Kuvira, Avatar Korra is still dealing with the dangers that lie within Republic City and within her relationships. : Korrasami : Korra/Asami : Rating Subject to Change :
1. The Heist

This is the multi-chapter story I started when I was updating Love Industries. I'm going to update and improve my writing from the original chapters and hopefully finish a story for once. I will reread chapters and fix typos as I see them. Enjoy.

 **THE HEIST**

 _In the weeks after the downfall of Kuvira, Avatar Korra is still dealing with the dangers that lie within Republic City and within her relationships._

 _| Korrasami | Korra/Asami | Rating Subject to Change |_


	2. Fear

_**This chapter is 3 words shy of 2,000 because there wasn't a good place I wanted to split it at. The other chapters will be closer to 1,000 words.**_

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 **The Heist: Fear**

If she could just make it to Asami's office she'd be fine. She'd be okay because Asami was smart and all she had to do was make it there without falling over.

 _Don't pass out. Breathe._

But it was hard to see in the dark Future Industries building, so Korra dragged her hand along the wall for support as she went, the other one braced her torso: increasing the pressure on the slope of her waist. She hissed through her teeth and trudged around the corner. You'd think that maybe the Avatar could find a little peace in the few weeks that followed defeating Kuvira–but no; only two weeks later she found herself clawing at the door handle to her friend's office, trying to ignore the slickness of her red stained hands. Once the knob turned she pushed open the door and staggered inside.

"Korra? I wasn't expecting a visit so late. Korra?"

Through growing tunnel vision she watched Asami's eyes widen and the papers she held fall through her fingers, haphazardly. Korra's legs buckled: they had done all they could and now wobbled under the increasing weight of her body. As she was about to drop to her knees, an arm wrapped around her shoulders.

Asami walked her to a small couch and helped her sit. "What happened?" Her voice was now flooded with concern as she crouched down, hovering her hand tentatively over the red that was seeping through the other woman's fingers. But her moment of hesitation was brief; she peeled away Korra's hand and lifted the dampened shirt over her head. "Korra. What happened?" Asami pressed again, her voice now strained and anxious.

Korra groaned as the engineer ran her fingers under the torn flesh. "Tried to heal it. Won't work." She ignored the slipperiness in the touch of Asami's examining digits. "He hit me with something." The Avatar ground her teeth together. Agony cramped through her abdomen and rippled through all of her adjacent muscles, making her diaphragm hitch. It was getting difficult to breathe.

"The entry wound is round," Asami stated, the crease in her brow deepening. She rocked up on her heels to stand, "keep pressure on that. I'll be right back."

"Wu-wait," Korra returned her palm to the lesion and grimaced, "don't leave, p-please?"

"I have to get a first-aid kit, Korra. It'll take me two minutes," she held up a pair of blood smeared fingers as she backed away, then turned to sprint.

It took what felt like ten minutes before the engineer came running back into her office. She resumed her kneeling position over Korra and opened a small white box. Pulling out gauze and a bottle of liquid, she murmured to herself, "I'm gonna have to close it." Asami opened the bottle and pressed a fresh piece of cloth to the opening as she tipped it upside down. "What hit you?" she asked and began to wiped around the wound.

"I'm not sure. Something exploded and th— _arh_!" one of Asami's quick sweeps ran too close to its edge, sending the sensation of flames through the puncture and up under her ribs.

"Sorry."

"Then I was hurt," Korra continued. "I tried to heal it but it won't close."

Asami discarded the now red cloth and felt around the torn flesh. "If something exploded it might be shrapnel." She grabbed Korra's hand and moved it over the wound, "Try to bend it out."

Korra realized her face must have looked uncertain because the emerald gaze that was cutting through her softened as she added, "You can do it, just go slow."

Korra nodded and flexed her fingers. She'd done this before, bending a piece of _solid_ metal out of her body wouldn't be too hard, right? The Avatar tried to focus through the pain, feeling for anything inorganic. She pulled up a little; something followed. Korra growled through the aching heat the motion had caused and decided that the situation was, instead, similar to removing a bandage: better to rip it off quickly–or pull in her case. She sucked in some air and exhaled as she flicked her hand upward, dislodging the metal.

"You did it," Asami wiped the area again, "I have to stitch you up now. Maybe if I can close the gash you'll be able to heal it somewhat—but I don't have anything to numb you."

"Just do it," Korra breathed, rolling her head back. She wasn't strong enough to heal it completely with bending now. Waves of pain were still crashing through her torso. This was just about their only option.

As Asami began to work, the Avatar busied herself by examining the piece of shrapnel between her fingers. It was small, no bigger than the pad of her index, and round. _Why would shrapnel be round instead of jagged?_ She closed her hand around it and shifted her gaze to the woman before her. The slightest tension strained in Asami's brow as she worked. Korra took note of the way the muscles flexed on the corner of her jaw every few seconds or so. Her stress level evident in the way she held her bottom lip between her teeth.

"Hey," Korra spoke as the thought drifted to her, "how do you know how to do this?" She winced as the needle struck a nerve that wasn't already on fire.

"Ever since Future Industries was turned over to me, I had all my floor guys take some medical training courses." Asami dabbed at the area with clean gauze, "They're the closest ones to all of the machinery and if someone got hurt it could be really bad. I sit through the greenhorn class every time we have new hires."

"That's really smart, 'Sami."

"Well when you start hanging out with the Avatar it doesn't seem like a bad idea," she chuckled, though Korra was currently thanking all spirits for her foresight. "But my guys," she continued, "my guys _are_ my company, y'know? If anyone got hurt, if anyone _died_ I… I just want everyone to be safe." Korra noticed Asami's jaw muscle tighten once more and fail to relax. "Done," she mumbled and stood. Reaching over the front end of her desk, she picked up a glass of water, half empty on the account of a red lipstick stain, and handed it over.

Korra bent the water around her hand and rolled it over her new stitches. Focusing her energy, she felt a soothing coolness numb the area within the muscles. She went over it few times, watching the redness recede and the gash seal somewhat, but there was nothing else she could do for the time being–it would heal completely in time and when her strength returned. What mattered was the bleeding and most of the pain had subsided.

Korra dropped the water back into its cup and lifted herself onto fragile legs. She ghosted a few fingers over her waist. Upon looking up again, she discovered emerald blades slicing her down to bits, through her skin, nicking at her marrow. She didn't have to ask, the answer was screaming behind the engineer's irises, but she did anyway. "You're talking about me too, right?"

Asami folded her arms across her chest and busied her eyes with something on the other side of the room. "How did you get over here without dying anyway?" There was something resembling concern in her tone, but she was learning well from Mako; she evened out any inflection that gave it away, only Korra knew them both well enough to catch on—Asami was her best friend after all.

"I got hit a little under a block away from the building. I saw your office light was on from the street. I probably trailed blood all the way up here trying to get to you." She staggered over to Asami and held up the ball of metal, "You saved me." Korra hooked her finger around the engineer's thumb, turning the palm that clutched at her bicep open, and dropped it into her hand.

"It's round," Asami mumbled, rolling it between her fingers. "Did the man who attacked you get hurt in the explosion too?"

Korra frowned, "No, I don't think so," stepping closer, she brushed her hands up the other woman's arms, "he ran when I got back to my feet... Are you okay?" she asked, taking a light hold of two slender biceps—half because she wanted Asami near her again, and half because standing up was proving to be difficult.

"If he didn't get hurt, maybe it was supposed to be a controlled explosion," Asami spoke, glossing over the previous question. Keeping her eyes locked on the metal ball, she showed no intention of moving from the other woman's grip. "I heard rumors that Cabbage Corp. was developing prototypes for a new style of long range weapon."

"You think this could be it?" Korra suggested, moving to settle her hands on the engineer's waist, only to have her slip from her grasp.

Asami sighed and stepped back once, turning perpendicular. "Possibly, but who knows if this"—she held up and twisted the shrapnel between them—"was them or just a freak happening. But what's weird is that it's _round._ " She turned another again to look out the large window spanning from the floor to the ceiling, presumably to consider their findings. Below them Republic City had died to a soft hum and the remaining lights of buildings speckled the landscape like fallen stars.

Korra stood blinking: fighting off the spinning of her equilibrium and the slight edge of darkness around her vision as she waited for her to speak again. When nothing more came, she questioned softly, "Asami?"

"It's spherical— _purposeful_ ," the engineer stated, turning back around. "If it was a controlled explosion maybe this was meant to be more of a projectile than blind shrapnel."

"Why would anyone need a weapon like that? And you didn't answer my question."

Asami stepped closer to her, "Well think about it. If you could launch a projectile with a lot of power behind it—like an explosion—it could inflict a lot of damage." She dropped a hand to Korra's waist and feathered a finger over the stitching, "I mean that much force traveling through such a small surface area could really be a problem."

"So what I'm hearing is explosions, damage, and problems," Korra moved her hand to the one on her stomach and intertwined their fingers. "What I want to hear is how you're feeling."

"How I'm feeling?" Asami scoffed, exhaling a mock of a laugh. "You-you just got a piece of metal shot at you. You _lost blood_ , Korra. You should probably be in a hospital or something right now and you're asking me how I feel?"

"Well yeah. I mean don't get me wrong, I'm way light headed right now but I care about you."

Asami's face tightened—the Avatar couldn't pin it to any one emotion.

"Gosh, Korra, you just come into my office like _dying_ and-and," she back stepped out of the shorter girl's arms to throw her hands out, " _passing out_ , and _bleeding_ and you wanna know how I feel?"

Korra's brow flexed: wrinkling and raising in concern. The engineer's eyes danced between Korra's. After a moment she deflated.

"I'm fine," she affirmed through the tightening line of her painted lips. "Let's get you to a hospital to check that thing out." Asami wrapped an arm around her shoulders for support.

"If you say so, Ms. Sato."


	3. Dusk

_**Whoops. Was gonna upload a well edited version of this chapter. But definitely already drank 4 shots of tequila. Oops. I'll probably re-edit this chapter when I'm sober. I just really wanted to get this one to you guys. Enjoy.**_

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 **The Heist: Dusk**

Bursts of fire burned against lavender skylight as Republic City shifted toward nightfall. Each strike sent an orange glow across the temple's courtyard: warmth clashed with the cool colors of the evening. Dusk was Korra's favorite time to practice firebending because of that. Sweat rolled over her brow as she threw a few jabs here, a few kicks there, and one particularly powerful roundhouse. She was fighting her shadow, partially ignoring the way her environment was growing soft around her. Tonight she wasn't really in the mood to pay it any mind.

Korra grunted as she began a new set. She had been practicing all day, something she hadn't been able to do in a while. This was partially due to all the destruction that the city had gone through. She threw a few jabs. To start, there was about a two hundred foot radius around the spirit portal that had been completely leveled—not to mention all of the buildings that Kuvira destroyed in her giant mecha suit. Korra frowned and thrust her foot out in a sidekick.

With so much of the city in disrepair, Asami was also working around the clock—hard sidekick. She was constantly in and out of the temple meeting Raiko for plans to repair the city's main infrastructure. The engineer was pretty much on the move at all times lately—which was really inconvenient. For the past few weeks the Avatar wanted to express how she was feeling outright, but all attempts had been unsuccessful. She launched a front kick. Yet, it wasn't like Asami didn't know. They had been flirting for months, dropping hints to each other here and there. Neither of them had said it out loud—and then the whole attack on the city happened—but both of them were aware.

Korra threw a few more frustrated punches, her fire going farther with each strike. She wanted to say it: she wanted Asami to know how she was truly feeling. But the timing had been off. The Avatar exhaled through her nose, sending fire through her fist that was just shy of crisping nearby shrub.

"Should you be moving around so much?"

Instantly elated, the Avatar swung her head around. Asami was coming down the courtyard's steps, bathed in the soft purple light of the evening. "Hey!" Korra beamed and jogged over to the other woman, meeting her halfway. As she grew closer, streaks of lilac spilled down Asami's dark hair in glints and shimmers, shadows lingered around her features, dipping one side of her face into darkness.

Dusk was throwing an ethereal cast over her, making the air in Korra's lungs feel thin. "Wow," she breathed. "I—uh, I'm fine," she spoke in hushed awe, only vaguely aware of the words tumbling past her lips. Clearing her throat she added, softly, "You look great tonight," and blushed as she became increasingly self-aware of her swooning.

Asami bowed her head, slightly flustered, and tucked a few waves of hair behind her ear. "Thank you," she responded. The slightest tug of a smile tweaked at the corner of her mouth. "You look sweaty."

Korra giggled and picked up the towel she had strewn over the steps to wipe her forehead. "I've been training for a while." She flipped the damp cloth onto her shoulder. "I did a healing session again this morning. Wanna see?" Lifting her shirt, she showed off a nearly healed gash. The redness had almost completely receded: the engineer's handy work had held up nicely. After the other woman had inspected the wound, she released her shirt's hem, adding, "I'm in good shape because of you."

Asami's mouth tightened. "Korra," her inflection made shivers run up the Avatar's spine, "I need your help with something." The engineer tilted her head up towards the sky. The previously lavender skyline had slipped into a fading pink gleam, while a deep navy blue extension, stars and all, began to shimmer above them. "I've been doing some research. A reliable source informed me that Cabbage Corp _is_ developing long range weapons. Similar to, if not, the same as the one you encountered."

"Oh?"

Asami lowered her chin and met Korra's eyes. "I think we should do some recon."

"Like a mission?" One brow curved upward, wrinkles creasing under her hairline."Don't you think we should just tell Beifong?"

"Look. I'm not speaking as a CEO concerned about what my competition is doing. I'm talking as a part of team Avatar, concerned that this type of weaponry could fall into the wrong hands. Cabbage Corp has alway tried to make a fast yuan. If we go to Lin with only a few pieces of evidence, they'll conduct an investigation and someone will tip them off."

"And you want to find out for sure if they're making them or not while we have the element of surprise."

"Exactly."

Korra clenched her jaw, locking her molars together. If Cabbage Corp was manufacturing weapons, who knows where they would sell them. She absently rubbed a hand over her waist, over her healing wound, and looked up. The sun was almost completely set, the moon was full and rising, bringing with it a new silver shine. Her waterbending would be at its strongest. They could go under the cover of darkness.

"Okay." Korra brought her gaze down, "Okay. But let's go tonight. It's already been two days since our little accident."

Asami nodded. "We're gonna need some darker clothes."


End file.
